Safar is a graduate of Holland High School, and will be a freshman at the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Florida, in the fall. He is the son of Richard Safar and Judith Bergsma. Richard Safar is an employee at Meijer Inc. in Grand Rapids, an MRA member business.

Keaton received one of two Raymond A. and Mildred C. Sobelton Scholarships, funded by MRA board treasurer and former chairman Peter Sobelton and his sister and brother-in-law, Barbara and Douglas Stranahan, in honor of the Sobeltonsí parents, founders of Churchills Ltd.

The $1,000 scholarship is one of 35 funded this year by the Michigan Retailers Foundation, a nonprofit organization established by MRA to benefit member businesses and their employees and families. Recipients were selected by an independent panel based on academic and extracurricular achievement.